While Keane’s story may be fictional, the NORAD Santa Tracker is very real.

Run by the military, the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command’s primary role is to help defend the United States and Canada. And every Christmas Eve since 1955, NORAD has tracked Santa as he delivered toys. The command even provides a direct phone line to Saint Nick.

Watch:

After spending two Christmases overseas with the military, Keane told The Daily Caller he “could just see if Santa Claus needed help, that’s the type of mission the military is designed for.”

“Everyone’s coming together to accomplish a mission, and that’s at the core of our military’s values,” Keane explained.

He hopes this book will honor the troops, especially those serving during Christmas. “Christmas becomes a blur” when you’re deployed overseas, he said.

“I’ll never forget the Christmas I spent in Iraq in 2003,” Keane recalled. “The colonel grabbed me Christmas morning and said he wanted to show me something. He took me outside, and the troops had put up a 15-foot Christmas tree.”

“Here we are in a placed called Tal Afar, Iraq. I was kind of stunned; it was a neat thing to see. I asked, ‘Where did you find a Christmas tree in Iraq?’ He kind of grinned and said, ‘Syria.’ It was a touching moment.”